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NATURE 



[_Sept, 5, 1878 



tains, &c. In March, 1855, visiting Rome, he made 

 sketches with the large refractor of the Observatory of the 

 CoUegio Romano, and in the following month delineated 

 many of the lunar landscapes with the telescopes at the 

 Observatory of Naples. In December, 1858, he entered 

 upon his present position as director of the Observatory 

 of Athens, but from the state of the institution and the 

 instruments, observations were not practicable for nearly 

 a twelvemonth, so that it was only in November, 1859, 

 that he was able to use, for his work on the moon, the 

 6-feet Plossl refractor, with which so much of the 

 remainder of his long-continued labours has been 

 completed. 



In January, 1865, he formed the project of preparing 

 a lunar chart, but his experience upon it for a consider- 

 able time was not satisfactory, for reasons which he de- 

 tails. In April, 1867, his final resolve was taken, and 

 setting aside the results of his previous attempts at the 

 construction of maps, he chose for his scale a 6-feet dia- 

 meter, and, after the example of Lohrmann, arranged to 

 subdivide his chart into twenty-five sections, as it has 

 appeared. The work proceeded steadily until, in 1873 

 and 1874, those parts of it not strictly topographical and 

 the colouring were completed. 



In December, 1874, Prof. Schmidt proceeded to Berlin 

 with his chart, for the purpose of exhibiting it to the 

 authorities, astronomical and otherwise, in that capital. 

 The interest which it excited here led to a fortunate com- 

 bination of circumstances, through which the editing of 

 the work was secured under the protection of the State, 

 and the Crown Prince was instrumental in procuring the 

 publication of the chart. At the suggestion of the Prince, 

 the twenty-five sections were photographed in the depart- 

 ment of the General Staff, and in April, 1875, Prof. 

 Schmidt received from Field-Marshal Count von Moltke 

 proofs of the same, which enabled him to bring the de- 

 scriptive portion of his work to a close, while the original 

 charts were retained at Berlin. 



Such is a brief outhne of the history of an astronomical 

 undertaking that has occupied a lifetime. We must refer 

 the reader to the explanatory volume for further interest- 

 ing particulars of its progress and vicissitudes while 

 under construction, at the many stations where its 

 talented and indefatigable author has been located — from 

 Altona to Naples. 



NOTES 



MoRMONiSM, whatever we may think of it as an institution, 

 is so far in harmony with the times as to appreciate the value of 

 scientific investigation ; and its leaders seem to be heartily 

 desirous to do what they can to further its interests. A recent 

 number of the Deseret News, the leading organ of the Church 

 party in Salt Lake City and Utah Territory, contains an account 

 of the reception by President John Taylor, the successor to 

 Brigham Young, of Dr. Thorpe, of the Yorkshire College, 

 Leeds. Dr. Thorpe, accompanied by Dr. Schuster and Mr. 

 Haskins, of St. John's College, Cambridge, is making a series 

 of magnetic observations across the American Continent along 

 the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and Salt Lake City was 

 selected as one of the stations. The president evinced consider- 

 able interest in the work, and showed a great desire to be 

 informed respecting its character and objects. He offered to 

 assign any spot within the city which might be deemed most 

 suitable for the observations to the party, placed the transit 

 instrument in the Tabernacle yard at their service, and suggested 

 the laying of a special wire from his private telegraph office to 

 the observatory for the purpose of exchanging time-signals with 

 Prof. Safford, who is determining longitudes at Lieut. Wheeler's 

 base station at Ogden. With such facilities the magnetic 

 elements of Salt Lake City ought to be accurately known. 



Prof. Struve, director of the Pulkova Observatory, is 

 leaving Russia for a visit to Western Europe, for the purpose of 

 giving directions for the construction of a new great refractor 

 for the Pulkova Observatory, The old refractor, which some 

 time ago was one of the best in the world, is now behind those 

 of Washington, Chicago, and Gateshead (Mr. Newall's Obser- 

 vatory), and the Pulkova Observatory, according to the will of 

 its founder, the Emperor Nicholas, should be maintained superior 

 to all other observatories in that direction, 



W'e regret to announce the death, on August 15, at Kiel, of 

 Prof. Emil von Asten, of the Pulkova Observatory, at the early 

 age of thirty-six years. A pupil of Argelander, he is known by 

 several remarkable researches, — as the investigation into the 

 orbits of Uranus, and especially by his researches into the motion 

 of Encke's comets with regard to the existence of a resisting 

 medium. After ten years' study of the subject, he published a 

 series of "Memoirs," in which he proved the existence of a 

 medium, and showed why its influence could not be observed on 

 other comets, as, for instance, that of Faye. His "Memoirs' 

 have given rise, as is known, to one of those remarkable sugges- 

 tions of Prof. Mendeleeff, as to the physical properties of this 

 medium. Prof. Asten was, besides, one of the most valuable 

 calculators of our time, and many of the Pulkova observations 

 were reduced and calculated by him, or under his direction. 

 His work on the sum of temperature, necessary for the develop- 

 ment of several plants of the flora of St. Petersburg, was done 

 during his leisure hours, as well as his discussions on the philo- 

 sophy of Schopenhauer and Hartmann, of whom Prof. Asten 

 was an admirer. 



M. FiZEAU, the present president of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, has been appointed to the Bureau des Longitudes, to 

 fill the place vacated by the death of M. Leverrier. 



We have received the programme of a singular propaganda 

 which seems to have been suggested by the recent opening up 

 of the East to Western influence?, and to which we cannot but 

 wish all success. The circular is issued by M. C, Constant, of 

 Smyrna, a member of the Asiatic Society of Paris, and his 

 scheme is to form a society for the publication in Armenian of 

 cheap popular scientific works, as one of the best means of en- 

 lightening and developing the people of the East, and of form- 

 ing a bond of sympathy and union between those of all creeds. 

 It is wished to implant in the East the great principles of the 

 Experimental School, which form the greatness of the West, 

 Special attendon will be given to anthropology and the social 

 sciences, which constitute the great problems of the age. The 

 Eastern peoples are at a turning-point in their career, M, Con- 

 stant says, and they ought to be prepared for the only definitive 

 conquest to which they will submit sooner or later, "the con- 

 quest of science, that first European power," The proposed 

 "Eastern Scientific Library" will be begun by the publication 

 of an introductory volume treating of the positive method and 

 its history ; it will be a summary exposition of the intellectual 

 evolution of humanity, from pre-historic times to the present. 

 M. Constant makes appeal to the scientific societies of Europe 

 for aid in this enterprise, and communications should be 

 addressed to him as above. 



The Iron and Steel Institute holds its summer meeting at 

 Paris this year, on September 16, 17, and 18, at the .rooms of 

 the Societe d'Encouragement, 44, rue de Rennes. Besides the 

 Introductory Address by the President, Dr. C. W. Siemens, 

 papers will be read by Prof. Jordan, Paris, On the Mineral 

 Resources of France ; by R-of, Richard Akerman, Stockholm, 

 On Some Studies Relative to the Present State of the Iron and 

 Steel Manufacture, made at the Paris Exhibition; by Mons 

 Euverte, Terre Noire, On Homogeneous Steel; by Danie 

 Adamson, Manchester, On the Mechanical and other Properties 

 of Iron and Mild Steel ; by Mons. Marche, Paris, on Certain 



